WW1 BELGIAN FUZES GALLERY

Before 1914, the Belgian Army equipped its Antwerp, Namur and Liège fortresses with numerous small Cockerill-Nordenfeld 57mm Mle 1888 guns. These guns, with additional steel shield, were also used as Fortress Infantry guns and ship guns.

A specific percussion fuze for 57mm gun was designed for that weapon that was firing either small high explosive shells or canisters.

This small percussion fuze for field artillery, built by the Belgian 'Ecole de Pyrotechnie', was all made in brass and equipped with a simple percussion mechanism of the 'Budin' type.

Little is known about that item, but its ressemblance with the IInd reich old 'GrZ c/80 percussion fuze' is so obvious that it seems clear this fuze design was German and probably made under licence in Belgium just like most pre-1914 Belgium guns.

That fuze was mostly used with the shells of the

• 7.5 cm TR field guns
• 8.7 cm guns
• 8.7 cm howitzers
• 8.7 cm mortars

Brass fuze, with 51 mm screw thread.

Designed and built by the Belgian Pyrotecnics School ("EP" marking).

This fusée percutante de place (fortress percussion fuze) was dedicated to gun shells in its basic design, but also built under different versions :

• fusée percutante de place "O" for howitzer shells
• fusée percutante de place "M" for mortar shells

The model shown in the pictures, wearing "OM" markings, was supposingly suitable for at least both mortars and howitzers.

This fuze equipped the munitions of the

• 120 mm guns
• 150 mm guns
• 150 mm howitzers
• 150 mm mortars, 3900 m range

Notable exception to the general use of revoluting fusing tubes for time fuzes in France, this Saint Chamond time and percussion 2-discs fuze was using the classical revolving discs system that was generalized in all the other armies. The lower disc was graduated from 1 to 18.

The St Chamond time and percussion fuzes were set by using a special apparatus named 'Regloir' ('regloir automatique sur banc a trepied')

It mainly equipped the projectiles of the :

• 70 mm semi-automatic mountain gun Saint Chamond
• 75 mm campaign guns of various types Saint Chamond

In 1905 the Belgium army tested a St Chamond 75mm fieldgun battery, before choosing the same caliber Krupp fieldgun.

Brass fuze, graduated from 2 to 55 hundreds of meter with 50 meters steps, with 51 mm screw thread.

Designed and built at the Belgian Pyrotecnics School before 1914 ("EP" markings sometimes visble - not on the model shown), it was clearly inherited from the German time and percussion systems.

It could be made out of brass or aluminium.

That fuse equipped the :

• 75 mm Krupp guns.